Contents

Character

Standing 5’9” and weighing 155 lbs., Jeffrey "Wheels" Dexter Boomhauer III, nearly always referred to simply as "Boomhauer," is a friend of the Hill family and hangs out in the alley drinking beer with Dale, Bill, and Hank. He is famous for his rapid pattern of muddled, nearly-incomprehensible speech. It appears to be genetic, as his grandmother, brother, and other Boomhauer family members speak the same way. He also peppers his speech with lots of "dang ol's" and "dadgums," often punctuating clauses with "man." It is revealed in "A Fire Fighting We Will Go" that Boomhauer actually sees himself as speaking clearly and everyone else speaking with his trademark speech pattern.

Boomhauer is a Texas Ranger and a confirmed bachelor with a taste for fast cars, women, and tiger-print bikini underwear. He drives a 1968 Dodge Coronet. In high school he had an infamous mid-60s Mustang named "Ms. Sally" but had to get a new car after Hank, Bill, and Dale accidentally drove it into a quarry while playing a prank on him. While attending high school with the three others, he played on the football team as the starting quarterback. His idol is Wilt Chamberlain (probably for both his athletic prowess and for his famous luck with women), and he is allergic to macadamia nuts.

Boomhauer's friends seem to consider him a source of good advice. He has a good relationship with Hank but occasionally loses his patience with Dale's insanity (calling him "Gribble") and Bill's inferiority complex (though respects him for helping him get over a woman). He is frequently the voice of truth and reason in their group, but since these confessions are barely understandable, they often go ahead, unless another character repeats what he said as though agreeing with him. He also proves to be rather cultured in one episode, calling Hank "ignorant" after Hank makes derogatory comments about modern art, and referencing Marcel Duchamp's famous Fountain and Dadaism.

Romantic life

Although considered something of a playboy by his neighbors, in I'm With Cupid, Bobby discovers that Boomhauer’s secret weapon for attracting women is merely barraging women until one finally agrees to go out with him. He also has trouble getting over break-ups. When his ex-girlfriend Katherine left him and went off to college, Boomhauer spent two days sitting in his hot tub. Peggy said she has never seen a man so sad and so relaxed than when Boomhauer was nursing a broken heart. When he meets a jogger whom Bill lusts after, he spends many days (and nights) with her gathering the courage to ask her to marry him, offering Meemaw's ring. To his horror, she had been sleeping with another man and had only been dating him for the sex. Adding insult to injury, she admitted that she hadn't understood much of what he'd said since they met and mistakenly referred to him as "Boomhauser." Crushed, Boomhauer goes speeding down the street crying, with “Barracuda” playing. Bill, no stranger to experiencing heartbreak himself, manages to pull Boomhauer back from the brink of desperation and motivates him to live life again.

Trivia

Boomhauer also shares similar traits with Kenny McCormick from South Park. Both share blond hair and they are reputable for their promiscuity, interest in automobile drag racing, and--most notably--their near-unintelligible speech (Boomhauer's being his fast pace and Kenny's voice being muffled by his orange parka whenever he speaks). Kenny is also voiced by South Park co-creator Matt Stone with the exception of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (where he was voiced by Mike Judge) and The Jeffersons, Lice Capades, The Coon , and the Mysterion arc (where he was voiced by Eric Stough) during the segments where he spoke clearly, unmuffled by his parka hood.

Boomhauer's trademark distinctive vocal patterns were inspired by a man who complained to Mike Judge about Beavis and Butt-head, an animated television series that Mike Judge created back in 1993, that aired on MTV until 1997, The same year King of the Hill premiered. The series was later revived in the fall of 2011 and is currently on hiatus.

Boomhauer is generally seen driving a red 1968 Dodge Cornet, although it is revealed that he once owned a red 1965 Ford Mustang nick-named "Miss Sally".

He is also seen driving a green Ford F-100 in "The Order Of The Straight Arrow"